Superhero
by head-in-a-jar
Summary: [movie-verse] Hellboy, Abe and Liz encounter a woman who believes she's doing the world a favor by going on a murderous rampage.
1. Part One

**

Superhero Part One

**  
**Disclaimer:** Hellboy and all related characters are the property of Mike Mignola not me. If they were mine I most certainly wouldn't be posting stories here would I?  
**A/N:** While this is movie-verse fanfiction any gaps will be filled with comic information. Any further gaps will have to be filled with the twisted work of my imagination. Let's hope there are few gaps.  
  
"A church huh?" Hellboy said. "It's been a long time since we've been to one of those."  
  
Abe fussed with his respirator, as was standard practice on these sorts of missions. "Is that a note of sarcasm I'm sensing?"  
  
The two sat in the back of the B.P.R.D.'s mock dump truck preparing for their arrival at the latest monster hunt. As was often the case they were going in blind and had no idea what they'd be up against.  
  
John Meyers and Liz Sherman sat up front with Meyers driving. It was a situation that had once bothered Hellboy, but these days it didn't matter. On a mission several months past Liz had made her feelings known and they'd been together since.  
  
"We're here," Hellboy announced, feeling their ride lurch to a stop. The back opened and the two emerged looking more like a carnival freak show than a pair of federally funded agents.  
  
"So what's the deal?" Hellboy asked once Liz and Meyers had joined them.  
  
"This is the Church of the Oracle, founded by Alexander Cavanaugh some eccentric rich boy who didn't have anything better to do with daddy's money," Liz said. "We've been watching them for months but they've never tried to raise the devil or wake the dead so they really weren't seen as much of a threat."  
  
"Then why are we here now?"  
  
"Because it's come to our attention that the church's entire congregation has very suddenly turned up dead."  
  
Hellboy glanced at Abe who nodded and approached the church's massive door. He removed one of his gloves and stretched out his hand, mentally grumbling about the lack of gloves made for ebbed fingers. How was it that Hellboy would get boots made for his cloven feet yet he had to wear gloves off the rack?  
  
"Sense anything?" Meyers asked.  
  
Abe touched the door and almost immediately pulled back. "She's very and almost… human."  
  
He was met with looks of surprise, though Hellbox's faded the quickest. Evil knew no gender, this wouldn't be the first crazy female he'd have to take out.  
  
"Also," Abe continued. "There's someone else, someone alive and scared."  
  
"Might be Cavanaugh, no one has heard from him yet and they haven't found his body either," Liz said, lighting a cigarette.  
  
Hellboy nodded to his companions and headed towards the door. "Well I guess this is our cue then."  
  
Liz and Abe followed. Gone were Hellboy's lonely hero days, now the three worked together.  
  
Opening the door they were surprised to find it dark inside and at first glance, empty.  
  
"Over there," Abe said, pointing towards a door near the back of the church. As they approached it the feeling grew stronger. "She is definitely in that room."  
  
Raising the Samaritan Hellboy leaned back, kicking the door in with one heavy boot. The splintered wood hadn't even finished flying before the three were inside.  
  
They found themselves in a large office just feet away from the nearly unconscious body of Alexander Cavanaugh.  
  
"Touch him and you die too," said a voice from the shadows. "But leave and I won't hurt you. My fight is with him and it's almost over."  
  
"Y'see, we don't work like that." Hellboy trained his gun on the form of a woman he could barely see. "So how about you just give up and then we'll talk about this guy here?"  
  
The woman stepped forward, challenging Hellboy's aim. In the dim light they could see that Abe had been wrong. She wasn't almost human, she _was_ human, or at least she appeared to be.  
  
A scream from the man on the floor brought their attention back to the matter at hand.  
  
"Whatever you're doing lady, stop it," Hellboy warned.  
  
"She's freezing him," Abe said, the words seemed to almost for a question rather than a statement.  
  
"You freeze things? Oh then you'll love Liz here. See, she burns things."  
  
Liz eyed Hellboy, wondering exactly what he had in mind. She was hesitant to burn another human but if it was necessary she knew she'd have to do it.  
  
"How about you all leave now," the woman warned yet again. "Or I will kill your cold blooded friend." She turned her attention towards Abe, clearly doing something to make him fall to his knees in pain.  
  
"No, stop!" Liz yelled, igniting small fires in each palm.  
  
Hellboy was through with the warnings and was ready to simply shoot the girl when Abe spoke up.  
  
"Crystal Carlson, that's your name."  
  
Apparently it was because she took a step back and seemed to briefly lose her focus.  
  
"You were raised here since you were eleven. You killed the members of the church because they lied to you."  
  
"Church? You idiots think this is a church? It's a fucking cult! And all they care about is money, who has it and how they can get it. You bet they lied to me and they all deserved what they got."  
  
Both Hellboy and Liz realized what Abe was doing. If he distracted her enough he knew she'd end up not only letting him go, but the other man as well.  
  
"Killing them won't make it better, it only makes things more difficult."  
  
"It's not about revenge. It's about making damn sure they don't' sue some other little kid like they used me. There are others out there I know it, and it's all their fault. We'll never be normal thanks to them."  
  
Hellboy had to admit he was a little curious as to what she meant about the Church, but he wasn't about to lose Abe to find out. While she was distracted he leapt at her, knocking her down and consequently knocking her out.  
  
"That worked out well," he said after he was sure she was still alive. "She's coming with us before she can kill any more people."  
  
"What about him?" Liz asked, motioning to the motionless body on the floor.  
  
"He's dead," Abe said. "I don't believe she meant to kill me, she just wanted to distract us while she killed him. She didn't seem to care what happened beyond that point."  
  
"Bet she didn't think she'd be waking up in a holding cell, that's for sure."  
  
Liz nodded. "What was her story anyway?"  
  
Finally getting back on his feet Abe leaned against the wall. "She was abandoned and they took her in here. They pretended to care for her but only wanted to use her for her special ability and trained her to kill. She honestly believed she was helping people by wiping out the entire church."  
  
Hellboy lifted the girl over his shoulder and began making his way to the door. "So is she for real or just crazy?"  
  
"I'm not sure. She believes it's all true, but crazy people normally do."  
  
"Right. Hey, how come that talking things out stuff never works for me?"  
  
Abe almost laughed. "I guess I'm just a people person, that's all."  
  


End Part One


	2. Part Two

**

Superhero Part Two

**  
  
After the three cleared the area a second team was sent in to examine the church and look for clues as to what really had happened. Hours later an autopsy would reveal that Alexander Cavanaugh had been frozen from the inside out, exactly as they had believed. The girl responsible was quickly moved into a holding cell until she could be questioned further.  
  
"She's crazy," Meyers said, sipping a cup of coffee. The four of them were all sitting around a table attempting to relax while they were filled in on why exactly the day's events had happened. "Her parents abandoned her and she was left in foster care where her foster father mysteriously died. It was ruled natural causes but of course we can be pretty sure it was her. After that she was taken in by the Church of the Oracle, which was no real church at all."  
  
"I believe she called it a cult," Abe said.  
  
Meyers shook his head. "There didn't seem to be any sort of religious or cult like activities at all actually. The whole thing was a cover for Cavanaugh's buying and selling of stolen goods, drugs and women. This girl was used as a bodyguard and an assassin sent to kill whoever was in Cavanaugh's way. One thing can be said for the church, they kept great records. There's a record of every person Crystal Carlson was sent to kill and it ends with this guy." He held up a folder. "She was supposed to take out the whole family, including two small children. What happened after that is anyone's guess. Maybe she had an epiphany."  
  
"The police are going to love us on this one," Hellboy said with a tone of amusement in his voice. "An entire church wiped out and we have the murderer."  
  
"What I don't understand is if there was no church or even a cult, why bother with the façade?" Liz asked.  
  
"And I find it a little suspicious that they just happened to come across a kid who can create ice out of nowhere," Hellboy added. "There was something else going on in there."  
  
Meyers sighed. "So the church was a cover for the crime which was a cover for something else?"  
  
"Yeah, basically."  
  
"This is great. Abe, do you have any idea?"  
  
Abe shook his head. "I'll know more when I can talk to her again."  
  
"You know, most people wouldn't be so gung ho about talking to the person who tried to kill them," Meyers said.  
  
"It's my job. Besides I already told you I'm pretty sure she never really wanted to kill me anyway."  
  
"Well whether she wanted to or not she almost did."  
  
Meyers had a point. Abe had been more affected by the day's events than he was letting on. It had taken a little while for his circulatory system to get back up to speed, and during that time he could have easily died. He didn't bother to mention it though because he hadn't died and that was the important thing.  
  
"Well whether Abe talks to her or not we'll have some more information before too long. The doctors are running some tests on her now," Meyers said as he stood up.  
  
"Tests," Hellboy growled. "I know all about those. They certainly waste no time do they."  
  
"That they do not," Abe said. The two had been put through more than their share of tests before becoming actual agents for the bureau. Abe still had nightmares about his early days at the B.P.R.D. before Hellboy had saved him.  
  
"Psycho, murderer or pms, no one deserves their _tests_. C'mon Blue, let's crash the party."  
  
Hellboy quickly strode out of the room with Abe at his heels.  
  
"Ah Hellboy, Abe what can I do for you?" A man in a lab coat asked them.  
  
"We're going in there."  
  
"I'm sorry, you don't have clearance. I can't just let you in there with a murderer."  
  
"Doc, we caught the murderer, remember?"  
  
"But Abraham isn't-"  
  
"I'm fine doctor."  
  
Tired of pretending they were even considering paying attention the doctor Hellboy pushed his way into the room. "You, out." He barked, causing a flurry of movement from the doctors in the room. Unlike the one outside they listened.  
  
In the center of the room sat Crystal Carlson, dressed in a hospital gown and attached to at least three machines. She looked different than the way they had seen her before. She looked defeated.  
  
"What do you want?" She asked, her voice still dripping with the anger of earlier.  
  
"Well we thought we might stop by and have a chat," Hellboy said.  
  
Crystal said nothing.  
  
"And if you decide you don't feel like talking my friend here can get all the info we're going to need anyway. Remember him, the guy you almost killed earlier?"  
  
She averted her eyes but reluctantly spoke. "What do you want to know?"  
  
"That's better." Hellboy pulled a couple of metal folding chairs over and he and Abe sat down. "First off, why'd you kill all those people?"  
  
"I told you, I didn't want them to ruin anyone else's life."  
  
"Yeah, but you're going to have to be a little more specific."  
  
She sighed heavily. "They were using me to kill people, is that specific enough for you? They knew about my gift and they used it to their advantage. I was eleven years old when they got me, twelve the first time I ever killed someone. I thought I was doing something good, like I was some kind of superhero. I was killing the bad guys and disappearing into the shadows just like on TV. I spent fourteen years completely blind to what was going on around me. Do you have any idea what that can do to a person?"  
  
"Actually, yeah I do believe it or not," Hellboy said.  
  
Crystal looked up. "Really?"  
  
"Yeah but that's not important right now."  
  
"No I guess not. But I assure you I am not a bad person. Okay so I'm a murderer but that doesn't make me evil. Cavanaugh was evil they all were evil. I was used that's all."  
  
"How can you go fourteen years not realizing what's going on around you?" Abe asked, finally entering into the conversation.  
  
"When you're feeling loved for the first time in your life you don't ask questions."  
  
Silence fell over the room, leaving the humming of machinery the only sound present.  
  
"Look, whatever you're going to do to me do it. I will not stand for being someone's lab rat, I'd rather die."  
  
Hellboy and Abe excused themselves from the room, waiting until they were out of hearing range before speaking. The last thing they needed was a bunch of doctors watching their every move.  
  
"So, what do you think?" Hellboy asked once he felt they were safe.  
  
"Well she's telling the truth for one. And she's right, she isn't a bad person just… misguided."  
  
"So what, you're saying we should let her go and give her a room?"  
  
Abe shrugged. "Better fighting with her than against her."  
  
"Meyers had a point, she did try to kill you."  
  
"Yes I do seem to remember something along those lines happening."  
  
"You're crazy, you know that right?"  
  
"But you trust my judgment." It was a statement, not a question.  
  
"You know Manning is going to hate this."  
  
"Manning hates _us_ Red."  
  
Hellboy smiled. "That's true. Okay, I'll see what I can do… but I still think you're crazy."  
  


END

  
  
**A/N:** At first I thought the idea of the B.P.R.D. accepting a character like Crystal was far-fetched and I worried about how I would make it seem plausible. But then I realized it isn't very far-fetched at all, given the history of the comic books. Roger was accepted after he not only nearly killed Liz but did kill another agent. One thing you have to keep in mind in this fandom is that nothing is really that unusual I guess. On a totally unrelated note, I am really hoping to see Roger in the next Hellboy movie. 


End file.
